DISCOVER REASONS FOR GRATITUDE

Conscious Thankfulness

IF you were to enjoy a delicious meal and then say ‘Alhamdulillah’ in thankfulness to God, then this would be gratitude at a very base level. This is because the gratitude is based on taste and appearance of the meal which is a carnal form of gratitude as opposed to a superior, rational or conscious form of gratitude.

Gratitude at the rational or human level is possible when one were to see food in front of them and be reminded of the entire structure and organisation set up by God that made it possible to get the meal. God has set up a natural process that miraculously culminates in the conversion of what is non-food into food. This universal process makes possible the formation of the various foodstuffs that one finds on the plate.

This should further make one ponder about the fact that the food on the plate in its original form and by itself could not have been a source of energy for us. Consequently God has established a unique system to process the food in our body—the digestive system. This digestive system is an involuntary and automatic mechanism in the body that converts the food we eat into energy further generating new living cells that form the flesh and blood of our body. Such thoughts would then result in an overwhelming sense of gratitude that one will find hard to express in words.

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God desires a conscious form of gratitude from man. Merely a carnal form of gratitude does not behoove the beneficence of our Creator.

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With the above example, we can understand the difference between a base form of gratitude and a rational, conscious or human form of gratitude. If we only have a poor form of gratitude within, we will always live in a state of ungratefulness. To live with a superior form of gratitude, we require the conscious gratitude of the rational kind. And this is the type of gratitude that is lacking amongst people all over the world. God desires a conscious form of gratitude from man. Merely a carnal form of gratitude does not behoove the beneficence of our Creator.